The invention relates to easily removable wooden handles for cutting and hitting tools such as axes, mauls, sledges, hatchets, hammers and similar devices. Conventional handles for such devices usually have a slot at one end which is insertable into and extends through an opening in the head of the tool in a direction generally parallel to the axe blade or sledge hitting surface. To affix the handle to the tool head, a small wedge is inserted into the slot after placing the handle in the head opening and the wedge is driven into the slot thereby expanding the slot sides and securing the head to the handle.
For anyone who has removed or attempted to remove a handle from an axe or other similar tool head, it is known that this task is formidable and time consuming, and can be unsafe. A handle which has been broken, for example, must be removed and replaced or the tool essentially is useless. Removal has, in the past, been accomplished by brute force using hammers and chisels, and by burning and by other methods.
This invention obviates all of the disadvantages of the prior methods of handle removal and replacement described above, and provides a new and easily removable handle means for such tools.